Tree canopy analysis findings in Atlanta highlight a correlation between household income, respiratory health, air quality and tree canopy, while restoration activities have focused on greening school campuses.

American Forests has developed a community survey to better understand residents’ relationship to their urban forest and helped local partners install Texas’s first food forest, which includes a variety of fruit and nut trees on park, school, and residential properties near the Colorado River.

Photo credit: Chicago Center for Neighborhood Technology

Chicago

American Forests led a 10-county urban tree canopy assessment and is helping reforestation efforts throughout the metro area, including revitalizing tree-less downtown Blue Island in the heavily industrialized area south of Chicago.

Cleveland

Through tree inventories and comprehensive planting, pruning, and removal efforts in select neighborhoods, American Forests seeks to generate support for citywide investments in tree canopy as a means of helping address a myriad of environmental and socioeconomic issues.

Columbus

American Forests helped create Columbus’ first community tree nursery, which will grow thousands of trees to help the city reach its goal of planting 300,000 trees and increase the tree canopy by five percent.

Dallas

An urban heat island study we are developing will guide a robust corporate, nonprofit and government partnership aimed at restoring tree canopy and establishing a culture of sustainability in one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country.

Detroit

Our initial project quantified and improved the ecosystem services of Detroit’s largest standing forest. We then turned to vacant land, spurring creation of the city’s first outdoor education center and now helping lead a coalition to create a citywide reforestation, wood reuse and job creation strategy.

American Forests has joined the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities and local partners to create and begin implementing a reforestation strategy to help the metro area adapt to better handle intense storms.

Miami

In Miami, a city facing vulnerability to climate change and urban heat island effect, American Forests has conducted tree canopy assessments, implemented various planting projects in underserved suburban communities and is helping local partners develop a long-term strategy to plant one million trees.

We conducted an in-depth tree canopy analysis of more than 11,000 street trees, and planted hundreds more, in East Nashville, a part of the city that is undergoing major urban revitalization and development.

Our analysis of Oakland presents a strong correlation between tree canopy and socioeconomic conditions. Using an index that highlights this relationship, we focused our restoration efforts in areas of greatest need.

In response to a major windstorm, this suburban city’s analysis and reforestation activities focused on air quality benefits of city trees to help address air pollution and smog and to inform the city’s future plans on urban forest management.

Our first desert city, American Forests is working with local partners to implement strategic “cooling zone” tree plantings that support Tempe’s plan to become a walkable, bikeable city by 2040.

Washington, D.C.

Our work in the nation’s capital has focused on innovative ways to engage economically disenfranchised populations, including turning a three-acre vacant lot into a public greenspace that includes a children’s discovery area, performance stages, fitness track, art installations and an urban research farm.